Hefeweizen is really a subset of Wheat Ale and has three key characteristics:

1. It’s Hefeweizen; it’s got a German name.   All of your friends will know you are drinking a sophisticated German beer.  This is good, as its actually a subset of the more pedestrian Wheat Ale.
2. This is not to say it isn’t good beer; it’s excellent beer and the Germans take it very seriously.  In Germany, legal codes describe how the beer must be brewed.  It must contain a significant portion of wheat and it cannot be filtered.  This lack of filtration accounts for the beers distinctive cloudiness.  What you are seeing is unfermentable parts of the malt and suspended yeasts.  Before you pour the beer, these materials have settled to the bottom of the bottle as a fine layer of sediment.
3. It is not strongly hopped, many Hefeweizens you’ll be able to procur in America will be bittered with German varities of hops.  Where Hefeweizen is commonly consumed, often such spices as corriendar and bitter orange peel are added.  When this is done, the fruity flavor these spices add is enhanced with yeasts that also contribute a fruity flavor.  

Typically if you like Amber Lagers, you should give Hefeweizen a chance.

Type: Hefeweizen Ale

Calories: ??

Carbs: ??

Alcohol: 4.7% by volume

Brewery: Flying Dog Brewery

Web Site: In-Heat at Flying Dog Brewery

Notes:   Two-time Great American Beer Festival Medal Winner